FALCON. 203 



132— RUFOUS-BACKED KESTRIL. 



Falco rupicolus, hid. Oni. Sup. p. ix. Levail. Ois. i. pi. 36. Daud. i'l, 135. 

 Rufous-backed Kestril, Gen. Syii. Sup. ii. p. 45, 



BIGGER than the male Kestril, though resembling it in 

 feature ; bill black ; cere and legs yellow ; head rufous, inclining to 

 brown at the nape ; back rufous, marked with black crescents ; tail 

 pale rufous, crossed with several brown bands ; chin white ; under 

 parts of the body rufous, streaked with dusky down the middle of 

 the shaft, but the lower belly, vent, and thiglis are the same, on a 

 pale grey ground; quills black above, and baired beneath with 

 white; under wing coverts rufous white, spotted with dusky; tail 

 rounded at the end, and the quills reach to about the middle of it. 



The female exceeds the male, a little, in size. 



This is common in the neighbourhood of the Cape of Good 

 Hope, called there Rooye-Valk (Red Falcon), and Steen-Valk 

 (Stone Falcon), also seen in all parts of Africa in mountainous and 

 rocky places ; is generally in the same place throughout the year; 

 feeds on small quadrupeds, lizards and insects ; builds the nest 

 among the sharp rocks, unsheltered, composed of dry twigs and 

 grass, carelessly put together, and lays from six to eight deep rufous 

 eggs. It is a fierce and daring bird, and at the sight of any one 

 uttei's a noise like the words cri-cri, many times repeated, especially 

 in the breeding season. 



Among the drawings of the Indian subjects, in the collection of 



Sir J. Anstruther, are several birds appearing as varieties of the 



Kestril, but not meriting particular description. These pass by 



different names ; those most like the male birds are called Carunga — 



the females Dourie Jogia ; yet in some dra^vings, in which both 



D d2 



